


building a life

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [25]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:19:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5759188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine that Jamie and Claire met as children and grew up together at Lallybroch. Related ficlets for Imagine Claire & Jamie on tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt sent in to [Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/137559001144/i-really-like-your-meeting-as-children-au-i-can) on tumblr. I'm posting my Imagine prompts here on AO3 for easier reading and in case there's anyone here who might not be on tumblr. Do feel free to check out the blog and send in prompts if you have more ideas for our favorite pair!

_Original prompt: I can only imagine the mischief Jamie and Claire would get into as children! I would love to see that in a continuation. //_ _I loved the story with Claire and Jamie as kids! Imagine them as teens and the boys from Lallybroch start hitting on Claire and Jamie gets really jealous // Can you lovely ladies continue the prompt with Claire and Jamie meeting as children. Like fast forward to where she has now lived with them for a bit or something? Either way this fluff was cute._

* * *

 

The years passed. Seasons came and went, crops were planted and harvested, rents were earned and paid. Claire settled in to farm life at Lallybroch, adjusted as best she could to living in the 18th century, and even learned how to use herbs and heal wounds from the always-kind Grannie MacNab.

Claire, Jenny, and Jamie finished their schooling one by one; Jenny began courting the bashful but determined Ian Murray. Jamie spent more and more time with Brian, learning the way of running a farm and managing tenants. As Claire’s knowledge and skill as a healer grew, she ventured further and further from Lallybroch to tend to needy tenants - and even attended a few births.

Here, on this remote Highland farm, so far removed from the world she’d been born into - Claire Beauchamp had found her calling. Her family. Her true home. Yes, there were holes that could never be filled again – Uncle Lamb, the things she’d left behind, the conveniences of modern life, the advances of modern medicine – but the Frasers, and Lallybroch, had given her much more than she’d ever dreamed.

At the age of twenty-two, she felt complete. But to many, she wasn’t – because she was still unmarried.

It wasn’t that Claire lacked male attention. On the contrary, despite her being a Sassenach – and the whispers shared behind the backs of hands at harvest gatherings that speculated she’d gone in league with the devil – various suitors had tried to win her ever since she’d turned sixteen. There was the Chisholm lad who’d dragged a full deer into the Lallybroch dooryard, trying to impress Claire (and Brian) – but had been told off by Ellen for leaving bloodstains on the freshly-scrubbed stones. And then there was a MacNab lad – one of Grannie MacNab’s scores of grandsons – who’d left clumsy clumps of flowers on her seat in the schoolhouse every day for a month. And who could forget that visiting MacKenzie tacksman – part of Dougal’s entourage, when he’d visited his sister a few years past – who had had too much whisky one night and lay a moist, grubby hand on the back of Claire’s neck as Mrs. Crook served dessert.

Every time, Jamie had intervened. She hadn’t asked him to – she hadn’t needed him to – but she was so very glad that he had. He’d shooed the Chisholm lad out of the dooryard and helped his father butcher the deer right then and there. He’d brushed the loose bits of earth from Claire’s seat before she sat down. And he’d punched the tacksman in the mouth, which would have led to a full-on brawl had Brian not clawed his livid son back, amid Dougal’s full-throated laughter.

No, the only male attention that Claire craved was Jamie’s. He was now a strapping lad of seventeen, already taller than both his parents, a thick shock of ruddy red hair tumbling past his ears, his strong, calloused hands capable of balancing accounts, delivering calves – and caressing the tender skin at the inside of Claire’s wrist, when their fingers found each other beneath the dinner table.

More than anything, Jamie was her home. Her sanctuary. He knew the truth of where she came from – and saw it as his solemn duty to protect her. Defend her from rumor and superstition and violence. Encourage her to develop her talents as a healer – especially since he was a frequent patient – and keep her mind occupied with lively debates about philosophy and politics and crop rotation and the role of women in modern society. 

All of the Frasers gave her space to be herself. But with Jamie, nestled side by side in an armchair reading Virgil before bed, or brushing down a horse in the stables, or stealing kisses on the far side of haystacks – she was no longer a Sassenach, a witch, a strange girl who’d grown to be a strange woman. She was Claire, and he was Jamie, and she was his, and he was hers.

Brian and Ellen approved the match – but wanted their son and foster daughter to wait. To court, properly. Jamie had rolled his eyes, but Claire had understood.

And he would be leaving for Paris in six months, to attend the Universite. And she would need to stay behind, at Lallybroch.

There was no surviving two years without the other.

So they had a plan.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a prompt sent in to [Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/139429491042/hello-fabulous-ladieslife-ruiners-i-still-love) on tumblr. I'm posting my Imagine prompts here on AO3 for easier reading and in case there's anyone here who might not be on tumblr. Do feel free to check out the blog and send in prompts if you have more ideas for our favorite pair!

_Original prompt: What happens next in the Meeting as Children AU, before Jamie leaves? And how are their secret encounters for planning what they want to do?_

* * *

 

“This is a bad plan.” Murtagh shook his shaggy head, arms folded tight across his chest. “A verra bad plan.”

On the hay bale beside him, Claire huffed in frustration. Jamie gently patted her thigh and took her hand in his, twining their fingers together, thumb secretly caressing the contours of her palm.

“I dinna understand why ye say that.” Jamie’s voice was measured, calm – though his fingers were clammy in Claire’s grip. “It’s a verra simple plan. We’re no’ asking ye for much – just to help us see it through.”

Murtagh narrowed his eyes at the two of them – it was still so hard for him to not see the wee bairns they had once been. “Let me repeat what I _think_ I just heard. I understand why ye dinna want to be parted from each other when wee Jamie leaves for Paris. I understand why Claire wants to study at the Universite on her own – God knows she’s a fine healer, and Brian and Ellen would support that. If ye _reasoned_ wi’ them.”

He paused, twisting his beard. “But no – ye dinna want to _reason_ wi’ them. So ye think that the only way Claire can go to Paris is for the two of ye to be handfast. Because that puts Claire under Jamie’s protection, and she becomes his obligation. And _then_ ye want her to get wi’ child right away, to prove that it’s legal between ye. Is that right?”

Jamie nodded. “Aye. That’s the gist of it.”

Murtagh sighed. “And who will care for this bairn, then? When ye’re living on yer own in Paris? So that Claire can go to the Universite during the day? Did ye think of that?”

Claire pressed her lips together. “You would, of course,” she said softly.

Murtagh stood up and paced to the far side of the barn. Claire and Jamie sat stone still, waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Slowly Murtagh returned and stood directly in front of them. “I’ll support ye. God help me, James Fraser – I swore to Ellen I’d guard ye and mind ye and serve ye till the day I die. And I swore to Brian that I’d never let any harm befall ye, Claire.”

She swallowed. Jamie squeezed her fingers.

“But I have conditions to provide ye this service, aye? Do ye understand?”

Jamie nodded, heart racing. “Aye. What are yer conditions?”

Murtagh rested his hands on his hips, meeting the blue, unflinching gaze of his godson. The lad and lass were clearly mad for each other – made for each other – and if he couldna stop those two from colliding, at least he could soften the blow.

“First – no bairn. Ye dinna need one. Brian and Ellen had to do that to prove to Colum and Dougal that it was legal between them, as they’d had no witness. But I’ll be yer witness – I can attest to it being legal between ye. And a bairn would just tie ye down, Claire. Ye dinna want that when ye should be running around Paris wi’ yer doctoring.”

Claire nodded. “I agree.”

A thought – enormous in magnitude – suddenly struck him. “Ye – ye aren’t already wi’ child, are ye, Claire?”

She smiled – it was small, but in good humor. “No – no I’m not. I can assure you that my virtue is still intact. Though not for lack of trying.”

Jamie’s face flamed crimson, but he said nothing. Murtagh raised one bushy eyebrow in question.

“She willa take me to her bed until we’re marrit,” he hissed. “And I hope ye know that I’d never do anything she didna ask for.”

“I know, lad.” This was fun – watching Jamie squirm. The lad’s brain and tongue were always too quick by half – but not now, not today. It was a rare turn of events – and Murtagh found himself enjoying it.

“Do you have any more conditions?”

Murtagh cocked his head, thinking. “Ye must tell Brian and Ellen straight away. That’s no’ my job.”

Claire nodded. “Done. Anything else?”

“Aye. One more thing. He must give ye a proper ring.”

Now it was Jamie’s turn to smile. “Dinna fash – I had something fashioned for her already.”

Claire turned to him, pleasantly surprised. “You _did_?”

He grinned even wider, and bent to kiss her forehead. “Aye. I wanted to be ready.”

She returned his smile – but then remembered something, and turned back to Murtagh.

“You said that you’d attest to it being legal between us. How exactly would you do that? Do you mean to –”

“He’ll no’ be in the room wi’ us, Claire. I promise ye.” Jamie gazed pleadingly up at Murtagh. “There’s no need for that, aye? Ye can – stand guard outside the door, I suppose.”

Murtagh shook his head in amazement. These wee dafties were going to be the death of him. “Dinna fash. I’ll take yer word for it, lad. Ye deserve a bit of privacy wi’ yer wife that first time, no?”

“And the second, third, fourth time as well,” Claire chimed in. “Just exactly how much time will we have?”

Jamie looked behind him at the half-open door, gauging the angle of sunlight. “If we do it now – then we have enough time to get to that cottage by early afternoon, and then a few hours before we’re back home for supper.”

Claire smoothed her thumb over Jamie’s knuckles. “Not in the barn, please – perhaps out back, by the burn? I – I want to be outside, under a tree, when we handfast.”

Jamie sighed, so happy. It was finally happening – their daft plan was actually going to work. In just a few hours she’d be his, in every sense of the word. His spine tingled and prickled with sheer joy. And desire.

Then he kissed her – and she kissed him back – and they did not care one whit that Murtagh was right there.

Until he cleared his throat, and they tore themselves from each other, panting slightly. Jamie and Claire stood up together. She dropped his hand and quickly embraced Murtagh in a sudden but not unwelcome hug.

The poor man didn’t quite know what to do with his arms – and settled for awkwardly patting Claire on the back.

“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. “I can’t tell you how thankful I am. You’re making my dream come true.”

Murtagh gently pushed himself back and swiped the back of one hand across his watering eyes – it must be the damp in the barn, it irritated his vision every time he spent a good length of time inside.

“Well then. If ye two are quite finished – let’s get on wi’ it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted at [ Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/140395484073/argh-meeting-as-children-au-beautifulbut-what) on tumblr

Original prompt: Argh. Meeting as Children AU. Beautiful...but what happens next? Anything that features Murtagh being fatherly has my heart in a vice, in the best kind of way // Please please please more meeting as children AU! I am loving seeing them together and their plans coming together. I’d love to see the hand fasting and the “after” *WINK WINK*

* * *

Murtagh sat on a fallen log, idly picking at a loose thread in his kilt, wondering how much longer he could wait.

His perch was a respectable distance from the small cabin – about ten yards from the door, which Claire had slammed shut, giggling, about three hours before. Murtagh had sighed, done a quick circuit of the cabin, found a wee stream where he’d passed an hour trying – and failing – to guddle some trout, and then returned, damp and disheartened, to the small dooryard.

He trusted the lad and lass – there was no need for him to actually sit in the room. But was it decent to put an ear up against the door? Had Claire brought a sheet or cloth or something to prove that she was a maiden?

Murtagh shook his head to rid it of the thought. Did the lad ken what he was doing? Should he have spoken wi’ him about it? Surely he had _some_ idea – but it was Brian’s responsibility to have that conversation.

Brian. _A Dhia_. His kinsman. How could he ever explain this? Perhaps it was for the better that he and young Jamie and young Claire would soon be off to Paris – some separation would doubtless help the tempers cool.

But now the sunlight started to slant across the dooryard. It would soon be time to go home. To contend with whatever the aftermath of this rash, romantic decision would be.

What wee fools. They were brave, to be sure. Reckless, perhaps. But determined. And in love. Many more people had accomplished far greater feats with much less.

He rubbed his hands across his eyes. It would never be easy with these two. But they were a challenge he would always be more than happy to meet.

—–  
Jamie could swear that the whole world had shifted in the past few hours. Nothing would ever be the same again.

For one thing – his heart was no longer inside his chest. It beat, strongly, serenely, within the woman who was nestled so closely against him that he couldn’t tell where his flesh ended and hers began.

For another – how could he _ever_ go back to living the way he had before, now that he finally understood what all the lads his age were talking about? It wasna true that women didna generally care for it – and it _was_ true that it was amazing wi’ a woman who ye loved deeply – and –

“I can hear you thinking,” Claire purred, her breath hot and damp against his neck.

He lowered his right hand to cup her lovely round arse and pull her tighter against him. His left hand found her right one – resting on his chest – and tangled their fingers together. The unfamiliar feeling of her wedding ring - _his_ wedding ring – lay between them. His heart - _her_ heart - raced.

“I’m sorry it was so – short – that first time,” he breathed against the crown of her head. “I – I feel so bad for it, I didna – ”

He felt her smile against him. “It’s all right – I was expecting it, actually.”

Startled, he pulled back to meet her hazy eyes. Whisky eyes. He felt himself getting drunk on them. “But – but ye bled – I – ”

She smiled wider – it reached all the way to the creases of her eyes. “Sshh. You’re my first. My only.”

Why did that make him so absurdly happy?

“But – ”

“I was told to expect it.”

His brows shot almost to his hairline. “ _Told_? By whom? Women actually _talk_ of such things?”

She raised her head and bumped the tip of her nose against his. “Grannie MacNab. I visited her last week – you know she has such stiff joints these days – and one thing led to another and…well. She gave me some advice.”

His blue eyes narrowed – but all in good humor. “Weel. Seems as if she gave ye some good advice, then.”

She shifted so that she lay atop him, pinning him to the settle. His plaid – which had covered and sheltered them as they became one – slid from her back. Jamie watched, fascinated, as her bonny white skin pricked against the cold.

“Very good advice. She said that it would be better after the first time. And it was, wasn’t it?”

He nodded, dumbstruck.

She closed the gap between him and licked his lips. “And she said that good men like it when the woman takes control.”

He swallowed, throat dry, feeling all the blood leave his head.

She kissed his eyebrows, the bridge of his nose, his chin. “And she said it’s so much better when it’s with a man who loves you, unconditionally.”

“I love you,” he rasped. They were the only words his brain could find.

She smiled against his lips, and positioned herself above him. Surely there was enough time before –

A pounding at the door.

Jamie – startled back into consciousness – groaned, gripped her hips, and held her still.

“No,” he rasped. His hips traitorously thrust against hers, seeking that magic union once more.

Claire’s breath hitched. Her eyes went wide. Surely it couldn’t be Brian or Ellen –

The pounding resumed. “Jamie!”

Murtagh’s voice.

Jamie threw his head back on the pillow, close to physical pain. “ _A Dhia,_ ” he cursed – meeting Claire’s startled eyes.

More pounding. “Wake up!”

Claire rolled off him, and for a long moment they just looked at each other – so reluctant to leave this beautiful moment, this beautiful place they had created. But they had to. They _knew_ they had to.

But that didn’t make it any less painful.

“Enough, damn it!” Jamie yelled at the door. He sighed, sat up, slipped off the settle, and helped Claire wrap the plaid around her shoulders.

“I’ll no’ be parted from ye tonight, _mo nighean donn_ ,” he whispered, breath hot in her ear. “We will make our paradise again.”

They kissed – long, and hard.

But the pounding resumed. “Come on, you lazy dolt!” Murtagh’s voice actually sounded worried.

Jamie strode, naked, to the door and flung it open.

From her perch on the bed, Claire observed no reaction on Murtagh’s face at the sight of his godson in the altogether. But then he stepped across the threshold, and saw her swaddled in Jamie’s plaid. His eyes bugged. She smiled sweetly, not caring.

He cleared his throat. “So it’s settled, then?”

Jamie crossed his arms, dignified despite his nakedness. “Aye. It is.”

Murtagh pursed his lips. “Well then. Get yer dress back on, lass. We need to start for home afore it gets too dark. And ye can practice on me what ye’ll be telling Brian and Ellen.”

She wrapped the Fraser plaid – hers now, as much as Jamie’s – tighter around her shoulders. “Well, the facts aren’t too difficult. I’ll manage.”

Jamie stepped to the settle and sat beside her, taking her small hand in between his. She was already so cold without him to keep her warm.

“No, _a Sorcha – we’ll_ manage.” He tucked several errant curls behind her ears.

“Mmphmm. Ten minutes, then?”

They turned to Murtagh, whose face – or what was visible of it, above his bushy beard – had flushed almost crimson. Claire would have laughed, had she not felt so much love and gratitude toward him.

“We’ll be ready,” she said softly.

He nodded awkwardly, turned on his heel, and slipped out the door.

Claire unwound herself from the plaid, stood, and gently lay the length of fabric on the dusty cottage floor.

“Care to show me how you put this on?”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally posted at [Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/148593642317/hello-lovely-ladies-will-there-be-a-continuation) on tumblr

Original prompt: Can you please continue Jamie and Claire meeting as children AU? love this fic! What happens after they get married behind Brian and Ellen’s back? [  
](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/tagged/meeting-as-children-au)

* * *

 

Claire watched Brian Fraser’s shoulders rise and fall as he stared out the window of his study, observing the sun set behind the broch.

Jamie’s fingers gripped hers, calm amid the awkward silence.

Had the clock on the mantle always ticked so loud?

“Ye’re lucky that Ellen was called to visit Grannie MacNab. Elsewise I’m sure there’d be a lo’ more to say.”

Brian turned, resting his hands on the windowsill and leaning back, watching his son and daughter-in-law.

“Could ye no’ think to wait, Jamie? Or were ye thinking wi’ yer cock?”

Claire felt heat flood through every inch of her husband’s body. He rose in his chair, still linked with Claire.

“Ye’ll think no’ such thing, Da! Claire and I – we’ve a plan. We’ve talked about it for a while. We canna be separated when I go to Paris. I canna breathe if I’m alone. There’s no life wi’out her.”

“But could ye no’ have asked me first, lad?” Brian’s voice was raised – firm – but still gentle. For he truly loved Jamie – his heir – and had always prided himself for the closeness of their relationship.

Yet Jamie had not even hinted at this possibility – had not sought his advice on the matter. Had he failed to pick up on the signs, then? Had he failed his only son? Betrayed his trust?

“I know it’s drastic – but we didn’t see any other way to prove to you just how much we love each other.” Now Claire rose to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Jamie – staking her claim as his equal, his mate in every way. “I don’t doubt that you and Mother Ellen would have allowed me to go to Paris with him – eventually. But I can’t wait for that – I can’t wait for him. And tying ourselves to each other was the only way we thought that would make you understand.”

Brian stepped to his desk and sank into the high-backed chair, resting his elbows on the worn wood. Jamie and Claire remained standing – hands linked – hair still messy from however they’d spent the afternoon.

Proud of their choice. Proud of each other.

God – with her dark curls, and his flaming hair – they were mirror images of himself and Ellen. Equally in love, equally defiant.

Equally reckless.

“So – ye’ll travel to Paris wi’ Jamie, then, Claire? And what are ye to do there?”

“Apprentice to an apothecary. And then eventually enroll in the Université, to study medicine. You _know_ I could learn _so_ much more there, in three years, than I would here in ten.”

Brian rubbed a hand across his tired eyes. The scent of roasted goose wafted through the door – they were keeping Mrs. Crook waiting.

“And what if ye get her wi’ child, Jamie? Will ye make yer wife bear a bairn in a strange land? All alone, wi’ no family to help?”

Jamie swallowed, but kept his eyes trained on his father’s face. “Claire kens how to – what to do, so that a bairn isna made. And even if she does get wi’ child, we’ll make do. Murtagh will be wi’ us, after all.”

Brian raised a questioning brow. “The three of ye, then – in a one-room flat? If ye two are anything like yer mam and I were – ”

“Murtagh has already offered to find other accommodation,” Claire interrupted, clearly not wanting to take that line of inquiry further.

“Of course he has. That man loves ye – the both of ye – like his own children. He’d do anything if ye asked him to, the damn fool.”

“He insisted we tell you the news – he refused to do it himself.”

Brian cocked his head. “Did he? Well then.”

“Da?”

Jamie and Claire whirled to see Jenny standing in the door, wiping her sweaty brow with the corner of her apron.

“Dinner’s ready – Mrs. Crook says it canna wait, else the pie will get all soggy.”

Brian rose and slammed his palms down on the top of his desk.

“Janet – ask Mrs. Crook to fetch one of the bottles of whisky from the cellar. Yer brother has some wonderful news – and we’re to celebrate!”

—–

It was almost midnight when Ellen Fraser finally arrived home – having mended the latest dispute between two of Grannie MacNab’s dozen or so daughters-in-law.

She had expected the house to be all quiet and shut up for the night – but as she approached the house, she saw the windows all aglow and the chimney cheerily belching smoke.

She handed her horse to a very sleepy Rabbie MacNab and stepped through the door and toward the dining room – to find her family sitting amid the remains of a long-finished meal.

Jenny slept, leaning back in her chair, a half-drunk glass of whisky at her elbow.

Murtagh was helping himself to the last slice of cake – the front of his shirt much the worse for wear.

Old John Murray, head down on the table, snored.

Jamie and Claire – nestled together in one of the big chairs – slept peacefully, holding each other tight.

Brian leaned to pour another dram for Ian, who raised his glass in a toast as Ellen – incredulous – entered the room, hands on her hips.

“Wha’ happened, _mo dubh_?”

“Jamie and Claire have gotten marrit!” Ian exclaimed cheerily, clearly a bit gone with drink. “Can ye believe it?”

Ellen met Brian’s eyes – saying a thousand words all at once.

Her eyes creased with surprise – and happiness.

“Well, Brian – he’s a Fraser. Like father, like son, aye?”


End file.
